How to shut off live photos on iphone

Live photos were introduced to iPhone photography with iPhone 6s.  Live photos will capture sound and movement a second and a half before and after a photo is taken.  It does this by adding a short video clip to the beginning and the end of the photo.

It is an interesting effect that can add life and even sound to a normal photo.

However, it isn’t always desirable for everyone who wants to record life events with simple photography.  And depending on your subject, Live Photo might not add nothing to a photo.

Live Photos
Top: On
Bottom: Off

Turn Live Photo on and off

You can turn off Live Photos for any picture that you take by tapping the Live Photo icon on the top center of your Camera app screen. 

• The button is yellow when Live Photos is on. 
• The Live Photo button is white with a slash when it is turned off.

However, instead of turning it on/off for every photo, there is a setting that will have the Camera app “remember” your preferred setting.  With this setting, you can still take Live Photos but it will remember and preserve the last live photo setting you have.

It’s a good approach if you simply prefer to normally have Live Photo turn off.

The steps are below:

Step-by-Step

Turn off the Live Photo with these actions:

1. Open the Camera app.
2. Tap the yellow Live Photo icon so it is off (white with a slash through it)  This is the setting you want to preserve.
3. Open the Settings app.
4. Scroll down to find and tap the Camera settings. 
5. Tap Preserve Settings.
6. Tap the Live Photo slider so it is Green.  (Green is on)

Note:  This does not disable the live photo.  It preserves the last setting you used.  You can tap the Live Photo icon at any time to enable a live photo.

Summary

As awesome as Live Photos might be for some types of photos, you may just prefer to turn off Live Photos for the majority of your pictures.  The Step-by-step above shows you how.

Setup

See Step-by-step above

Requirements

Requires IOS: 10+

Works on iPhone and iPad

Additional Information

The Senior Tech Club recommends the following additional resources for members that wish to pursue additional and/or advanced information on this recipe:

Live Photos are a hybrid between a still image and a short video that work on iPhone 6S and newer. These unique moving pictures capture three seconds of video with a key photo in the middle, but there may be times when a traditional photo is better.  In this article, you'll learn how to turn off Live Photos temporarily or long term.

Related: Live Photos: The Complete Guide to the iPhone's Moving Pictures

Why You'll Love This Tip

• Save storage space on your phone when you turn off Live Photos.
• Avoid sharing more than you intend to in the seconds before or after a photo.
• Ensure that your picture can be easily viewed when you send it to someone, even if they don’t have an iPhone.

How to Turn Off Live Photo for One Photo

Live Photo is automatically activated on your iPhone, but you can turn off Live Photos for a few images or turn it off entirely in just a few easy steps. Alternatively, you can keep your Live Photo off and use it on occasion by tapping the same target icon in the camera app.  

1. Open the Camera app.
   
   
   

2. Tap on the Chevron symbol.
   
   
   

3. Tap on the Live Photo icon to pull up the menu.
   
   
   

4. In the menu, enabling Live Auto turns the icon white. On iPhone 11 and newer, this means that your camera will determine when to take a Live Photo based on the amount of movement in the shot. Keep in mind that not all iPhone models will have the Live Auto option.
   
   
   

5. Tapping On turns the icon yellow, and when this option is selected, your camera will always take Live Photos.
   
   
   

6. Tap Off to disable Live Photo.
   
   
   

7. Once you've disabled live photo, the icon will appear with a line through it.
   
   
   
   
    

How to Disable Live Photo for All Photos

To disable Live Photo for all photos you take, follow the steps below. Before you begin, make sure that you've done the steps in the previous section to turn Live Photo off for one picture.

1. To turn off Live Photos permanently, first open the Settings app.
   
   
   

2. Scroll down and tap Camera.
   
   
   
   
    

3. Tap Preserve Settings.
   
   
   
   
    

4. Tap the toggle to enable preserving your Live Photo settings. The toggle will be green after you do this. This will preserve the setting you last used in the Camera app.
   
   
   
   
    

You may need to turn Live Photo off manually in your Camera app one last time, but after that, your settings should be preserved in the Camera app. While the Live Photo feature is useful and fun, there are still times when a still photo works better. You have the best of both worlds when you learn to turn off Live Photo.

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How do I turn off photo live?